National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration May 20, 2021 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In accordance with the regulations implementing the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) as amended, notification is hereby given that NMFS has issued an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to the City of Hoonah (City) to incidentally harass, by Level A and Level B harassment, marine mammals during pile driving activities associated with construction upgrades of a cargo dock at the city-owned Hoonah Marine Industrial Center (HMIC) in Port Frederick Inlet on Chichagof Island in Hoonah, Alaska.

NMFS announces a U.S. stakeholder meeting to discuss North Pacific albacore (NPALB) management. This meeting is intended as a follow-up to a meeting held by the International Scientific Committee on Tuna and Tuna-like Species in the North Pacific Ocean regarding a management strategy evaluation for NPALB. The meeting topics are described under the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this notice.

NMFS has received a request from Mayflower Wind Energy LLC (Mayflower) for authorization to take marine mammals incidental to site characterization surveys off the coast of Massachusetts in the area of the Commercial Lease of Submerged Lands for Renewable Energy Development on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS-A 0521) and along potential submarine cable routes to landfall locations at Falmouth, Massachusetts and near Narragansett Bay. NMFS published a proposed incidental harassment authorization (IHA) in the Federal Register on March 1, 2021, Mayflower determined that they needed to add an additional export cable route corridor to the proposed IHA. Therefore, a final IHA was not issued and Mayflower submitted a modified application on April 19, 2021. Pursuant to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS is requesting comments on its modified proposal to issue an incidental harassment authorization (IHA) to incidentally take marine mammals during the specified activities. NMFS is also requesting comments on a possible one-year renewal that could be issued under certain circumstances and if all requirements are met, as described in Request for Public Comments at the end of this notice. NMFS will consider public comments prior to making any final decision on the issuance of the requested MMPA authorizations and agency responses will be summarized in the final notice of our decision.